Category Archives: Fitness

Road Ends 5 Miler

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Every year the local Running Fit stores hold what is called “The Road Ends 5 Mile Trail Race” also billed as “No Wimps Allowed!” race in Pinckney Michigan. This is the short version of the Trail Marathon and half marathon held the following day at the same location.


Just to prove I was really registered for the race... although I could have grabbed this out of the recycle barrel after the race.

Added a nice new T-Shirt to the small, but growing, collection.
The official Road Ends participant T-Shirt art work.

    Some stats for the race:
    a) 5 Miles, not a 5K
    b) finished 276 out of 355
    c) finished fifth out of five in my age group…. later adjusted to sixth out of six.
    d) won my first “award” for the fifth place, but later seems I should not have after results were adjusted…. oh well.
    e) took a great tumble skinning up a knee and (can this be done?) spraining a foot, not an ankle.
    f) learned to make sure I remove glasses before I take off on a run! (The bifocals make seeing your feet difficult without looking down, thus losing the ability to see where you are going.)
    g) had a 11:09 pace (55:44 total time)
    h) had a great time in spite of e above, and since it was the first 5 mile I have run another new PR! Hey, three races, three new personal records, what’s so hard about this?

The course is at the State Park in Pinckney Michigan. The area is relatively hilly, and the course takes great advantage of that. There are a couple gentle hills to sort of warm up on, and then a couple monster “never ending grades” that will make the thighs burn, and these come after the 3 mile marker, so you are I am already running on shaky legs! Yeah, I walked part of them, I am sure this contributed to the slower overall pace since I have been keeping it to around 10 minutes on flatter courses. This shows a need to get more hill work in, maybe need to find a stadium with steps to run up… or maybe even enter the annual climb at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center.

    Full Climb 70 Floors – 1035 Steps
    Half Climb 40 Floors – 585 Steps
    Yeah, right . . . . Oh, I would have, but already missed it for this year, darn. (It was Sunday, February 24, 2008)

I also cannot figure out how the course can gain over 1,000 feet in total altitude, but never descends more that 50 feet total through the course. . . or at least it seems that way.

Update May 1, 2008: I was kidding about the elevation above, but I just got the weekly email from the sponsors “Running Fit” and they had this to say about the race:

“As usual, the weather was spectacular and everyone set a P.R.! (Seriously, we just checked out the vertical climb in each loop of the half marathon and it was over 7,000 ft! For those of you who ran the 5, a very serious 5, it had over 3,000 ft of climb!”.

Now this to me seems like a serious amount of climbing to me! No wonder the legs grew weary!

I did have the old Peugeot 10 speed out awhile back. The tires still held air, and I did a couple miles around the neighbourhood to see if I could still stay upright. Seemed to provide pretty good thigh exercise also, maybe need to get out on it more often. . . or maybe even squats (?) to build them up.

Well, nursing the foot now, resting it a couple of days, then have to get back on the path. Need to keep on track since I have the Toledo Zoo and Mackinaw Bridge races coming up in just a couple of weeks.

Until the final bruise heals,

Martian Marathon – 10K in the books.

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This morning I did the Martian Marathon – 10K race portion. I had a good time for sure. Having never gone 6.2 miles before except once in training, did not know for sure how it would work out. I did not finish first… come on only been three months since I could even go 3 miles at a time…. but I was pleased with my stats.

  • There were 617 total finishers (do not know how many entrants)
  • I ended up 426th out of that 617
  • In my age group there were 43 runners
  • I ended up 30th out of that 43.
  • The official time was 1:03:01
  • That makes the pace 10:09, not burning up the pavement, but better than the 5K pace (10:30)  just a month ago, and twice the distance!
  • Then of all the runners, 69% finished ahead of me, while in the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K a full 77% finished ahead of me.

Click on the picture to see a larger image.

The numbers here confuse me a little, they are just slightly different than the spreadsheet data on the Gault Race Management web site. But the spreadsheet looks to be more correct to me.

If I hang in there it will be interesting to see what happens at the same races next year.

Will get I now have some photos posted, but finally got the main system is down for an upgrade right now  running enough to get this done.

Until the Martians make face to face contact,

Martian Marathon Invaded by Kazology Running Team!

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The count down has begun to the Martian Marathon, well in my case the Martian 10K, which is pretty much a marathon for me!
For the curious, it shows that I am officially signed up for the 10K race.

The race is less than two weeks away on Saturday April 5, 2008. ???? like ????? I think I can go the distance, probably not non-stop, but a short enough “breather” to still keep the time pretty reasonable. ???? ????? ???? 777 ???? ?????

Should be a fun race! I am hoping the weather does not decide to dump more snow the night before – or during the race! ????? ?? ?????? After the latest round on Friday the 21st, Ann Arbor broke all annual snowfall records that went back to 1880 when the first records were kept, so it would not surprise me since we sometimes get snow that late! Better get out and buy those YakTraxs to have on hand foot feet!

Until the last alien abduction is solved,

Step 3 Done – Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K

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I am sure everyone is waiting to see the final results of the inaugural 5K race, well not so much “race” as a fast trot…..

I guess the good news, I did not stop, I did not walk, I did finish, I did not finish last even! (Sam I am…) I did not have any unpleasant medical issues which is always a nice thing.
There was a total of sixteen runners in my age group, I managed a twelfth place. There were 899 finishers and I made a 696 overall. (It looked like about 1100 entries, so some either never showed up, or quit before they went through the timing gates.) I could whine about the crowded start, being almost two blocks behind before I even crossed the start line, but I’m not gonna. I am going to mark that up to lessons learned and future race strategy. I was hoping they would have a chip timed start but it was not, but rather a “gun start”. That’s okay, just makes it easier to improve in the next race.

The Infamous Purdue University Toe-JammersTM team lives on! After a recent resurgence in activity by the Toe-JammersTM they have worked to regain the old Esprit de corps, coming out of retirement to continue on the proud tradition.

Click on the picture to see a larger image.
Some other numbers, my average pace was a blistering 10:28/mile (Odd they run all races in metric but always give the times in miles, especially since you have to deal with that little nagging extra “.11 miles” somehow.
Total time was 32:34, which is a new PR! Like I said in the previous post… it is the first 5K I have ever run so it HAS to be a new PR.
Click on the picture to see a larger image.

The official photographer was on hand to capture a number of thrilling action shots which have been posted on the web site.

The motivations for entering this 5K were:

  1. have fun
  2. do something different
  3. see how I compare against other runners
  4. finish – not first, but not last so call it a personal challenge
  5. set a benchmark to gauge future efforts against

I feel good about the goals, and think I met all of them.
Now the big decision. I made the 5K okay by my current standards. Coming up is the Martian Meteor, which is a 10K. I have looked and I think my times will keep me at least within reason, certainly not gonna be first, but think I would not be last either.
Have to try a few more 6.2 mile runs before I commit though.

Okay, I think that is about it, looking at the picture above I think I am gonna head out to the running shop now and pick up some of those man-tights to wear. The old sweats are sorta baggy… they look like they belong in the original Toe-JammersTM locker room.

Until the final event goes into the books,

Step 2 Done – Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K Race

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Okay, one step left – go to the race.
Click on the picture to see a larger image.

Saturday, 22 hours to go…. went and picked up pre-race package which included the official T-Shirt and number. Only thing left is to get there on time tomorrow and pick up the timing chip then get in line.

Step 1 Done – Shamrocks and Shenanigans 5K

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Well, if I needed motivation, the entry fee has been sent in.
Have successfully managed to go the 5K (3.1 mile) distance non-stop on a couple of occasions now, so there is hope I can at least finish the race.

It is almost guaranteed that I won’t be in first place at the end

It is almost guaranteed that I won’t be in first place at the end, even in my age group. (Unless of course no one else shows up!) BUT no matter what happens I am guaranteed a “PR” or Personal Record for the event AND all time 5K record pace!

(Only because I have
a) never run this event before
b) have never even run a 5K before!)

Hey, take the motivation where you can find it!

Until the final blister heals,